Truth Seeker - Armageddon

Har-Magedon

And they gathered them together into the place

which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.

(ASV, Revelation 16:16)

The book of Revelation is a puzzle of epic proportions. Much must be seen through very ancient eyes, eyes that have poured over every detail of all of the scriptures. Next, much of the language must be sifted through the filter of scriptural knowledge of such individuals. This page has but one pair of eyes and one paleo-filter of knowledge, so that what is assembled here is a best effort attempt. No claim as to being inspired is made. All that is hoped for is that the material makes as much sense as possible by the Bible.

We see that Revelation calls this a battle. Thus we conjure up war in our minds which, of course, is appropriate, but is it giving us all we need?

Look at the following verse, verse nineteen:

16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Armageddon is now associated with the destruction of Babylon the Great, the great Harlot of kings, the global religious empire of false religion that fornicates with kings and empires of kings, the beasts we also read about. This clues us into what really is going on. The nations carry out a global attack on religion; that is no war. That is the signal for war to begin; namely, the final war for a thousand years – the war of Armageddon.

This permits us to scour the rest of the scriptures for similar incidents. In Revelation chapter eleven and in Ezekiel we have similar incidents though the object of animosity changes person, but not class.

Ezekiel 38:14-16, Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In that day when my people Israel dwelleth in safety, shalt thou not know it ? 15And thou shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost north, thou and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great assemblage and a mighty army. 16And thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land--it shall be at the end of days--and I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be hallowed in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. (Darby)

Rev 11:7, And when they shall have completed their testimony, the beast who comes up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall conquer them, and shall kill them: 8and their body shall be on the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Darby)

In the first case, Gog of Magog, Satan, shall fight against modern day Israel, spiritual Israel, not the fleshly nation in the Middle east. This scenario is repeated in Revelation 11:7. In both cases, war is being fought against a spiritual nation, God's people on earth today.

In Revelation 16:19, we read how the nations being gathered for Armageddon first destroy Babylon the Great, the world religious empire of false religion. Thus we can understand from the two scriptural descriptions that the two attacks are in all actuality one attack that leads to God taking action through Christ in Armageddon.

Why?

Because the destruction of Babylon the Great is God's will – it causes no animosity or defensive reaction on God's part! Instead, we understand that God stands up only when his Holy Ones, the Saints, the daughter of Zion, is attacked.

The nations, as the unintelligent beasts they are being compared to, turn upon the flesh of all religion, false as well as true worship of God. These beasts do not distinguish between the flesh of their prey, be it Buddishm, Shintoism, Catholism, Protestantism, or whatever it calls itself – it is flesh to be devoured, material possessions to be had, undesirable elements to be eliminated.

In doing so, these beasts also fight against God's true worshipers. This is when God stands up; his primary general, King Christ Jesus, comes riding on his white horse followed by his Saints and other holy angels to fight for God's "pupil of the eye." (Ps 17:8, Rotherham)

Zechariah 2:8, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, For his own honour, hath he sent me unto the nations that are spoiling you,—Surely, he that toucheth you, toucheth the pupil of mine eye. (Rotherham)

While Babylon the Great's judgment comes directly from God himself being executed by his divine judge Christ Jesus, he reacts with instant obvious anger and rage when the 'pupil of his eye,' the daughter of Zion is attacked. This rage is now poured out on the nations that dare attack his Saints and affect God's daily sacrifice of praise of lips through the ransom sacrifice Jesus Christ.

What does Matthew 24:29-32 say about the Saints? It says that the remnant of Saints still on earth shall be removed to heaven in one go, in a rapture like manner. (Though the teaching of rapture is different and in error since it includes all Christians)

Matt 24:29-32, But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened . . . he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the one extremity of the heavens to the other extremity of them. (Darby)

Sequence of Events

Background

Here is a little insight into what backs up the determination of the sequence of events. It shall be said that the Great Tribulation has little scriptural info connected to it. Jesus tells us that the Great Tribulation begins after the Disgusing Thing that causes desolation stands in a holy place ! This does not need to mean that the modern day fulfillment has an immediate entry into the Great Tribulation right after Babylon the Great has been destroyed. Jeremiah indicates that about a year thereafter, war begins, this may very well be when the Great Tribulation begins for real. Still, when it happens Armageddon is very close.

We also see in 18:14 how the world's merchants are moaning about her demise. This tells us that there is some normalcy to the world's economy, some lull perhaps between the Great Tribulation and Armageddon. This lull seems connected to the 1260, the 1290, and the 1335 period of days that perhaps starts when Babylon the Great is attacked.

For the above reasons, it then is assumed, theorized, that a great, but not the Great, tribulation happens first initializing events needed for the world to create the political eight king and the Disgusting Thing. Here the world experiences economic woes that make cities fall. Then Babylon the Great is attacked by the emplacement of the thing of abomination, the disgusting thing assuming a holy position, a counterfeit kingdom of political nations claiming to be able to create peace on earth. This is then permitted for the duration of the number of days previously mentioned.

Sequence

Now we are more or less equipped to delineate the sequence of events.

An extended economic tribulation shall assail the world and be so bad as to make cities fall. It shall force the nations to desperate measures.
One such measure is to establish a global economic controlling political power, the eight king.
This eight king shall confiscate organized religions treasures globally, Babylon the Great is destroyed.
The Great Tribulation begins thereafter, one year after BG is destroyed war begins. The time is going to be filled with wars, hunger, earthquakes, natural disasters, and pestilence.
It should be noted that from when the Disgusting Thing stands in a holy place until the end of Armageddon, a total of 2,300 days will pass. Upon the completion of these days God's theocracy with Jesus Christ as ruler will have been established over the earth.

When the nations attack all religion, they also attack God's servants. From this point on the various 1260, 1290, etc days start their countdown.

How exactly the various periods of 1260, 1290, and 1335 days are counted is not yet clearly understood, but the count seems to start with the destruction of Babylon the Great and the attack on the daughter of Zion. Still, the 1335 days is clearly the time of the final resurrection, the rapture of the remnant.

Jeremiah tells us that in a two year period, the first year is Babylon's destruction while the second year is nation fighting nation. Perhaps this precipitates the establishment of the counterfeit human kingdom on earth that because of its grandiose claims of peace through human political beasts raises itself up as a disgusting thing, an abomination, in God's eyes? Though the times ahead shall be turbulent in the extreme, they shall also gradually shed light on things now unclear.

The rapture of the remnant Saints happens just prior to the Lamb's marriage to the Saints in heaven. It seems probable that this is nigh instantaneous. It shall therefore most likely be followed immediately by Armageddon when Christ and his holy ones ride out to battle.

Thus when the beasts of nations indiscriminately attack religion globally, they initiate the process that ends in their own extermination by the great Christ Jesus who looks upon these beasts as mere gnats to be squashed by his heavenly armies. This extermination is called Armageddon, the harvest of the righteous and the destruction of the sea of evil mankind for all eternity.

Rev 21:1, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more. (DRC)

Indeed, Armageddon ushers in a new heaven, a new government, and a new earth, a righteous population from a mix of all nations. But, the wicked sea of mankind has been destroyed.